Woman Believed to Be Third Victim of Rapist in San Clemente Area

A rapist who ties up, gags and blindfolds his victims assaulted a 19-year-old woman over the weekend, the third such attack within the last four months in an upscale residential area, police said Monday.

News of the latest assault rocked the Broadmoor Homes neighborhood, a 204-house tract near San Clemente High School with postcard views of the ocean. Residents who scrambled to purchase home security systems after the first attacks said Monday that they are now more fearful for their young children.

“I thought before it was just a coincidence,” said one resident with two children. “Now, my neighbors feel as much endangered as I might be if I was home alone. This could happen to me.”

The attack on the 19-year-old woman occurred moments after she turned off the lights in her home to go to bed. Police Sgt. Richard Downing said the man entered the four-bedroom house through an unlocked sliding door at the rear. Officers said the victim’s family was out of town for the weekend.

The intruder tied the young woman’s hands with the electric cord from an alarm clock, blindfolded her with a T-shirt and then gagged her with a sock, Downing said. He then demanded to know where money was kept.

“She led him to different parts of the house where money might have been kept,” Downing said. “But none was found, and he took her back to her bedroom.”

During the ordeal, the assailant placed a knife on the victim’s throat and threatened to kill her, Downing said. The woman suffered a minor cut on her neck and bruises on her wrist but was not hospitalized.

Her attacker apparently fled when some approaching car lights shined into the house, police said.

The rapist’s description and methods match almost identically those of the two previous assaults. Last November, a 13-year-old girl was raped in the same area. A month earlier, a 29-year-old mentally retarded woman with the mental capacity of a 10-year-old was kidnaped near Avenida Pico, taken to an undetermined apartment location and assaulted.

Investigators believe that the rapist is a white male in his early 20s, about 6 feet tall, weighing 165 pounds, clean shaven and with wavy light-brown hair. On Saturday, he was wearing a gray sweat shirt, blue jeans and a light-colored baseball cap, possibly pink, Downing said.

“He’s so systematic in the way he operates,” Downing said. “He restrains the women and finds them when other people are away, so he must know who stays in the house. The new angle here is he was looking for money. He never looked for (money) before.”

Residents said that there had been several recent burglaries in the area. Police received a report of an attempted burglary in the area the same night, but Downing said he did not know if it was connected to the assault.

San Clemente High School Principal James Krembas said school officials are concerned about the recent spate of assaults because “our youngest students are . . . immature, 14-year-olds who are often left unattended.”

“Everyone’s sort of wondering what the police are doing about all this,” said Jack Baker, 62, a Broadmoor resident for 15 years and a director of the neighborhood homeowners’ association. “This guy has been seen by two women now; there must be fingerprints they can use. We’d like to know what’s happening.”

Mayor Scott Diehl said: “There is a sick person out there. I have every confidence that our police will do everything in their power to catch this individual.”

Downing said police have stepped up patrols in the residential area. They are also advising schoolchildren to walk in pairs and keep their doors locked.

But police said they had few leads in the case.

“You can’t plan for anything like this,” Police Chief Albert C. Ehlow said. “Who knows when he (the rapist) will be back?”

But some residents said they plan to organize neighborhood watch meetings to deal with the fear that has gripped Broadmoor.

“We’re going to get our heads together and see what we can do about it,” Martin said. “There is someone here who knows an awful lot about people’s habits.”